Large collapsible cameras have been well known for many years. Such cameras have, in the main, included complicated mechanisms for collapsing the bellows between the camera lens and the image receiving plane of the camera. As a result, such cameras have tended to be relatively expensive and have, therefore, been designed to be reusable.
During the last few years, pocket or compact cameras have become popular and, more recently, even smaller disposable cameras have become known. Such disposable cameras are designed to be returned to a processor after the film within the camera has been exposed to have the film developed. The camera body may then be recycled by a manufacturer, rather than an end user. Disposable cameras of this type have tended to be smaller than the pocket or compact cameras.
Although the known disposable cameras are small, there is still a demand for even smaller cameras. Indeed, there is a demand for a camera which can be fitted into a wallet, for example. To enable such a camera to be produced, it is considered necessary to limit the number of photographs which can be taken by the camera, possibly to one; and that it will be necessary for the camera to be collapsible, since the normal distance required between a camera aperture/lens and the camera image receiving plane is too long to fit into a wallet. A paper proposal for such a credit-card-size camera for single-shot emergency use is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,751.
As far as the present applicant is aware, a commercial camera based on the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,751 was never made. Furthermore, having manufactured a camera according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,751, the present applicant has found that the bracing of the camera is completely inadequate to enable a satisfactory photograph to be taken. This is because the proposed camera body is manufactured from sheets of paper and, as a result, does not have sufficient rigidity to hold its shape during activation of the shutter mechanism. Further, the score lines, which enable the body of the camera to be formed, can readily give way such that the focal length of the camera changes.